incubator-ooo-dev mailing list archives

On Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 4:11 PM, Andrea Pescetti
<pescetti@openoffice.org> wrote:
> On 17/10/2011 Rob Weir wrote:
>>
>> I'm making a proposal now to shut down the legacy OOo mailing lists
>> and direct the existing subscribers to one of the AOOo mailing lists.
>> I realize that this is not the solution that many of us would prefer,
>> but I believe that it is the best way forward that anyone is willing
>> to volunteer to lead. Please delight me by proving me wrong on this
>
> I find the plan well-thought and I agree it is vital to act before the
> existing infrastructure is abandoned, but I propose to make some changes and
> I volunteer to lead this alternative migration at least for the 12 mailing
> lists on the it.openoffice.org domain. See below for details.
>
Great. I welcome the offer of help. Let's coordinate on the wiki.
>> 1) Make a list of all public legacy OOo mailing lists that have
>> received at least 5 non-spam email in 2011.
>> 2) Publish that list on the wiki, along with :
>> a) the language predominately spoken on the list, if not English
>> b) the recommended AOOo list that existing subscribers should be pointed
>> to.
>
> Perfect. Actually, I remember I already provided this information on a wiki
> page with the "top lists" you created some weeks ago.
>
I plan on refreshing that list for this effort. So expect updated data.
>> 3) I will then draft, in English, a post to be send to the above
>> lists. The post will talk about the overall effort of the migration
>> to Apache, the specific migration of the mailing lists, and invite the
>> subscribers to stay informed and to participate in the new Apache
>> lists. Information on how to subscribe will be provided. A shutdown
>> date, for the legacy lists will be included, two weeks from the
>> posting date.
>
> The fundamental difference is here: the N-L mailing lists (including the
> Italian ones) mostly target end users. We shouldn't put any burden on them
> or expect them to be able to follow processes and confirmation e-mails in
> other languages.
>
We should do some tests to see if we can eliminate the technical
requirement for a confirmation. List moderators can subscribe users.
But I'm not sure if that triggers a confirmation email to them or not.
But this is easy to test.
> And (this is a vital detail) we should give a message of continuity, not of
> disruption. We (in this context, i.e., Italian end-users mailing lists)
> shouldn't communicate in a way that implies that the old OpenOffice.org is
> dead and that a new OpenOffice.org is born, since the product our users will
> be talking about in the mailing lists is still the "old" OpenOffice.org, and
> the fact that the new home is at Apache is not a fundamental difference to
> them; they will continue using the product and taking care, when the time
> comes, of localization and QA; we would scare users and contributors away by
> describing an "old/dead" OpenOffice.org.
>
I agree. In many cases this will be the first official message that
the Apache project has given to the lists. It is long overdue. We
need to make sure it is a good message. I do not plan on sending any
message before it is reviewed here on ooo-dev.
> I would turn the post you describe into a warning that the mailing list
> address will change, including all information about Apache but not
> requiring users to take action. I volunteer to consolidate the 12 lists into
> 3 and to subscribe users to the right ones (of course, being "project owner"
> of it.openoffice.org, I have a list of all subscribers to the 12 lists).
>
Let's map this out on the wiki, to see exactly what new lists we need.
> One can find flaws in this process since, from a technical point of view, we
> are mass-subscribing users; but remember that this is just a migration. I
> read your remarks in other threads, but we don't risk to help spammers this
> way (there is no spam on the 12 lists I monitor) and it would be a suicidal
> move for OpenOffice.org to shut down mailing lists and leave the majority of
> users in a position where they can say "OpenOffice.org is dead, to the point
> that even the peer-support mailing lists have been shut down".
>
>> 4) I will invite volunteers to translate the draft post into other
>> languages.
>> 5) I, and whatever volunteers wish to help, will send the posts to the
>> lists.
>> 6) The note will be repeated a week later.
>
> OK about this.
>
>> 7) After two weeks we request via Oracle that the Kenai admins close
>> the lists, per:
>> http://kenai.com/projects/help/pages/ManageProject#MailingLists
>
> I would change this into a one-month period in which the old addresses still
> work but just as forwarders to the new (remapped) lists, followed by a
> silent closure of the old addresses.
>
I don;t think we want to set up forwarders for just two weeks. At
least I'm not volunteering to do that. But I am happy to extend the
period between initial notification and shutdown. We could even
repeat the notification and migration instructions.
> Regards,
> Andrea.
>